Chapter 17: Friday Night Drinks

Friday night drinks at these things were always treated like a scouting ground. Who are you hanging out with tomorrow? Who's going to make a fool of themselves? And for the singles, who are you maybe, possibly hooking up with? Sasha and Becky had found themselves a couple of stools at the hotel bar, sipping on their drinks and catching up. Becky filled her in on Finn's status, the steamy breaks with The Demon, and the big fight they'd had right before she left. He'd texted her a few dozen times in the week that followed, and things were largely back to normal, but she didn't like how he could tell something between them was off.

"Have you ever thought maybe…" began Sasha.

"What?" She knew she wasn't going to like this idea.

"Just… tell him?"

"Tell Finn?"

Sasha nodded. "You said it yourself, maybe he feels the same way deep down. Maybe if he knows it's already been done, he won't feel so nervous about it."

"Or, he'll never speak to me again."

"I don't think he'd do that."

"You don't know him like I do, trust is so important to Finn,"

"So then why'd you break it in the first place?"

Becky glared at her, and Sasha threw up her hands.

"Alright, alright backing off. I'm just saying this has gotten really out of hand, maybe you should've just told him that first time he asked."

"Well, I didn't, and now I'm stuck. I can't have him hating me, I can't. Hey Xavier!" She called over to him at the bar, desperate to exit this conversation.

"What's up ladies," he said as he walked over to them, "Hey Sash what's proper etiquette on Pokemon Go'ing during the ceremony?"

"Don't." They both said at once.

"Duly noted. Becky, I haven't seen you since Hell in a Cell, how the hell are you?"

"I'm good, I'm glad to be back in the ring."

"Your match with Eva was pretty good," Sasha nodded.

"Yeah she's aiight, just needs a steady hand that's all."

"Alright, but really," Xavier was grinning, "how many new Insta followers did you get after those Day Off photos went live? Cause you looked amazing."

"You looked really good," Sasha agreed.

"Uh oh a few," she blushed a little, "they weren't that revealing, right?"

"Nah, nah very tasteful. Very 'wouldn't you like to spend your days watching me order room service in my pajamas?"

"I think that's kind of the point of that series," Sasha laughed.

"Well Finn, here," Xavier said as he caught Finn and Sami walking over out of the corner of his eye, "already gets to do that."

"What do I get to do?" He asked, shaking Xavier's hand and giving Sasha a side hug.

"Watch Becky order room service in her pajamas."

"Oh, uh, lotsa pajamas, not so much room service in the apartment."

"Still luckiest man in the world according to twitter," Sami commented, "obviously because you're so beautiful Becky."

"Thank you Sami," she smiled at him, but caught the eye of Finn standing in between them.

They all laughed and Sami started asking Sasha about her last championship match against Paige. Finn leaned into her ear and spoke in a low tone.

"Can I borrow you for a minute?"

She nodded and they slipped away from the group, finding a quiet corner of the hotel lounge. He sat just a little too close to her.

"Your cast is gone," she commented, and he grinned as he wiggled his fingers from the black brace.

"Yeah it feels so much better. Rehab's been rough but, I'll pull through."

"I know you will."

"Listen, Becky, I…" he met her gaze. "I really am sorry. 'Bout the things I said?"

"Me too," she said quietly. "Maybe you an' me have a way of being too much inside each other's heads."

"Think one o' these days we'll learn to stop usin' it against each other when we're hurt?"

"Mmm, unlikely."

"Yeah, you're probably right," he chuckled. "Fightin' with you is always like fightin' with my sister."

Her heart sank a little, Finn always meant it as a compliment, comparing her to his sister. She was smart, and funny, and he loved her more than anything in the world. But that didn't make it feel any better to hear him equate the two.

"You know me better than anyone, ya know that?" he asked.

" 'Course I do."

"So you know that I'm jus'…frustrated with myself for what happened that night and just wishin' I hadn't let The Demon out?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I know that."

"It's dangerous, Bex. An' it's been…hangin' around a lot recently…"

Her stomach did a backflip.

"But anyway, you were right. I got cross at the situation, and I took it out on ya, and I'm sorry." He leaned over and kissed her softly on the crown of her head, shooting chills down her spine. "We aiight?"

"Yeah, we're okay. But you were wrong about me. I'm not runnin' scared of anythin'."

"Okay, I believe you. But somethin' is up with you," he looked down at her with a warmth in his eyes, "an' I jus' hope you know ya can tell me anythin'. There is nothin' you could say that would make me love you less."

She smiled. Not so sure about that one Finn.

"There's nothin' to tell."

He nodded and stood up from the cushy sofa, offering her a hand.

"Sites set on anyone this weekend?" he asked, a little too casually as they started to walk back towards the bar.

"Why?" She shot him a side eye.

"I was jus' askin', I mean plenty o' eligible bachelors at these kinds of things…"

"What have you heard?"

"Wow aiight, no bullshit tonight, huh?" He looked over at her, blushing a bit, "Sami, jus' sorta asked me 'bout you earlier."

"Sami did?"

"Said you two had been hittin' it off before the draft."

"Yeah I suppose we were…why'd he ask you about it? Seems a little childish…" She pushed her hair behind her ears and glanced over to the part of the bar where their friends sat laughing.

"Uh well, it wasn't really a 'oh d'ya think she fancies me,' thing. More like askin' if I was aiight with him makin' a move… Didn't want to get in the middle of somethin' between the two of us"

She raised an eyebrow. "Between us?"

He pushed his hair back, "I mean. People talk. They always have, in Bray, in NXT. I've gotten used to it."

"So I take it you told him to go for it."

"Yeah, I said I didn't know how you'd feel about it, but that I didn't have any objections."

"That's nice of ya." She didn't make eye contact with him the entire way back to their spot, but she could feel his eyes on her the whole time.

xxxxxxxxx

Finn knocked at her hotel door at quarter of, and groaned when she opened it in a silken robe.

"You're not even dressed yet?"

"Calm down, I just have to put on my dress, c'mon." He slumped on her bed in his tailored suit and black shirt.

He didn't wear suits often, claimed to hate them, but there was no denying how good he looked in them. Becky had to pull her eyes off of him as she took her dress from the closet into the bathroom. She slipped it over her head and twirled her orange blown-out strands around her fingers.

"D'ya have fun last night?" he called from the main room.

"Yeah, it's nice to talk 'bout somethin' other than work with that gang." She filled her lips with a light pink lipstick and smacked them together. "Saw Sami lookin' over a few times."

"I told you nothing. Wow," the corners of his mouth turned up as she walked out in the slinky black dress. "Good choice."

"Thanks," she rolled her eyes at him in the mirror above the dresser. Picking up a small gemstone necklace she tried to attach it behind her neck and struggled with the mass of waves.

"Here." He came up behind her in the mirror, taking the necklace in his fingers and moving her hair out of his way. His hand traced down her bare shoulder and their eyes met in the mirror. The Demon smirked.

"I can see why you were savin' it, that's quite a first impression," he whispered in her ear as he fumbled with the necklace for a moment.

"Look, I'm glad to see you, but,"

"But?" He secured the clasp and ran his hand down her spine, causing her to have to swallow a gasp.

"But he shouldn't miss Tom's wedding, that's not right."

"I'll leave in a moment," he said, nuzzling against her ear again and pushing her hips into the dresser. "But he's not gonna tell ya how beautiful you look tonight, so I had to."

"You don't look too bad yourself," she giggled as he spun her around and her fingers found their way to his tie.

"Clean up aiight, huh?"

She pulled him into a kiss with it, and he chuckled,

"Careful darlin', thought you were kickin' me out?"

"Oh shut up." She pulled him in for another deep kiss and said, "how much time do we have?"

He smirked and patted the dresser top. "Enough."